Colorado has a quarterback carousel. We shouldn’t be surprised.

Last week, quarterback Ryan Staub was third on Colorado’s depth chart behind highly regarded senior transfer Kaidon Salter and five-star freshman Julian Lewis.

This week, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that Ryan Staub will start for Colorado (1-1) on Friday night when it plays at Houston (2-0), and if Staub plays well, he’ll keep the job.

“That’s the goal. I don’t want to play musical chairs with quarterbacks,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders told reporters Wednesday. “Why would I want to come to the game and do that?”

An old football adage says if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. Colorado apparently has three, so you can draw your own conclusions about its quarterback situation.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

Sanders’ son, Shedeur, was his starting quarterback when he coached youth and high school and the first four seasons of his college coaching career. Shedeur Sanders, a fifth-round pick in this year’s NFL draft, sits third on the Cleveland Browns’ depth chart.

How did Colorado wind up with a quarterback carousel? First, Sanders is known for his offensive impatience. In the four years he’s been a head coach, he’s changed offensive coordinators multiple times during the season.

If Sanders doesn’t like what he sees, change is coming.

For this season, Sanders said he decided to open up the quarterback competition after a 27-20 loss to Georgia Tech. Colorado gained 305 yards and 19 first downs, but Salter averaged just 5.7 yards per pass attempt.

Against Delaware, Sanders rotated each of his three quarterbacks, giving each of them two series to demonstrate their worthiness. Colorado won 31-7 and Staub emerged as the starter after completing 7 of 10 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

Staub has taken the majority of first-team practice repetitions this week, though Sanders has yet to name him the starter publicly.

“Leadership is involved. Understanding the totality of the offense is involved, and being able to do some things that are off script,” Sanders said. “When the play breaks down, come on, man, what you got?

“I feel like a quarterback has to make three plays on his own a game.”

Like Staub’s 71-yard touchdown pass to Sincere Brown, the result of Staub changing to a better play.

This decision will probably shape Colorado’s season, and maybe its future. After all, Lewis, a five-star freshman from Georgia, was considered the future. Salter, a fifth-year senior, was supposed to be the bridge to Lewis.

Now, each quarterback’s future is murky. The transfer portal gives players options and freedom they haven’t had.

Sanders has never been impressed with the high school ratings systems as a college coach. He’s always been about meritocracy, which is how a Jackson State running back moved from the scout team to starter during the 2022 season and led the team in rushing.

Salter, a four-star recruit, began his career at Tennessee before transferring to Liberty. He then chose Colorado because he wanted to maximize his talent and create an NFL opportunity.

Lewis, who during the recruiting process flipped his longtime commitment to USC to Colorado, has always been the future. He’s only 17, and Colorado’s plan was always to add a veteran in case Lewis needed time to mature into the position.

No one had Staub on the Colorado quarterback bingo card, but Sanders has always been loyal to winning. That’s why he believes in football meritocracy: the best players playing.

“It’s a standard here. It’s how we’re going to do things here. And that’s going to be it,” Sanders said this week on his coach’s show. “I’m not getting ready to baby you, placate you, or nurse you. I’m not built like that because I have one speed pretty much.

“I am who I am, and that’s how it’s going to be, pretty much. I’m not getting ready to change levels and volumes for different people. I’m not built like that. I’m not built to play coach. I’m built to coach.

“They should have understood that before they came. Now that you get to see it live and in color it may be different. They should’ve understood that when they came. What about me had changed?”

Against Delaware, Salter started and led Colorado to 10 points on a pair of 12-play drives. Lewis, making his college debut, replaced Salter and directed two drives that ended with punts.

Staub directed a six-play, 76-yard touchdown drive in the final minute of the first half, and he started the third quarter with the touchdown pass to Brown for a 24-7 lead. He played two more series, leaving with a 31-7 lead after Micah Welch scored on a 10-yard touchdown run at the start of the fourth quarter.

Salter, Conference USA Player of the Year in 2023, played two more series, and Lewis had one. Salter finished 13 of 16 for 102 yards and ran for a touchdown.

“Staub did what we expected him to do. You all are surprised. We weren’t,” Sanders said. “We were thankful and appreciative and happy and elated for him

“He seized the durn moment.”

When Sanders arrived in 2023 and much of the team entered the transfer portal, Staub stayed and threw 44 passes in two seasons. He’s earned the respect of the coaching staff and teammates.

His commitment to the team, whether signaling in plays or running the scout, never wanes. His teammates cheered loudly for him when he joined Sanders on a circular dais in the locker room after the game. Several former Colorado players sent him congratulatory texts this week, and a few, like Shedeur Sanders, phoned.

“Staub is a lovable dude, man,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s not going to be one of those guys who somebody else is starting and he’s sitting on the bench mad, sulking. Going from giving signals to getting in the game. That don’t happen. Hats off to him.

“He’s the ultimate teammate. He’s the ultimate character guy. Those are the types of guys that we’re looking for. Oftentimes, though, guys don’t come with three or four or five stars you get excited about. I want to know if they fit here.”